EDIT: Okay, so I had really cool dancing banana smilies but since those don't want to show up on here, I'll have to settle for the regular ones. So, if Andy shimmies in Shanghai but not as well as we had hope, then we will blame the smilies that won't work.

World number three Andy Roddick fears he could miss the year-end Masters Cup because of back pain. Roddick was hampered by a sore back during his 6-3 7-5 defeat by Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in the semi-finals of the Paris Masters.

The American, who received treatment twice during the match, had also suffered in his quarter-final win over Spaniard David Ferrer on Friday.

"I don't know," Roddick said on Saturday when asked whether the injury might force him to pull out of the eight-strong season finale from Nov. 13 in Shanghai.

"I hope not but, obviously, I'm not as optimistic as I was two days ago. I'll go back, we'll treat it and if I feel like I can go, I'll go. If not, then I won't."

Roddick had said after beating Ferrer that he might not play Saturday's semi-final. He did but the pain soon returned.

"It felt okay walking around earlier in the day but as soon as I started moving, it just really stiffened up and made it tough to move and hit my shots," he said.

"It's low back, it's just tight. The doctor used a bunch of medical terms I'm not intelligent enough to understand. We're going to evaluate it again here and when I get home."

The former world number one, who has won five tournaments this year, said he would love to go to Shanghai.

"Most of all it's an honour to qualify (for the Masters Cup)," he said.

"It's very prestigious. The fact that you only have a handful of guys that are allowed to play makes it really special.

"Obviously, I don't think it's on par with Davis Cup or with a grand slam but it's very important. It's almost like a celebration for the year."

Ljubicic grabbed the last ticket to the Masters Cup by qualifying for the semi-finals in Paris on Friday.

the stuff about going to Shanghai is also in the audio from the tourney site if you want to hear his voice and how he says it. To me it sounds like it was sort of a thing where he just doesn't know yet because he hasn't really had a chance to even find out exactly what the problem is. That's the feeling I got, but that of course he wants to go play if he possibly can.

yes, he was scheduled to be at a big WTT charity thing in Pennsylvania Monday night. I imagine that he either won't go or if he goes he won't actually play.. but yeah, it was gonna be a ton of traveling in the span of a few days. None of which particularly helps the back. Of course he might have a private jet or at least first class and then it would be more comfortable I suppose lol